**Ch 1: Fresh New Year

Ice glazing over the double glass door windows was one of the first things I noticed after I woke up today around noon. Snow crystallized the ground in the backyard and around the flowerbeds in the garden. Beyond the backyard, the thick overlapped trees throughout the forest had snow and ice clumped onto their bare branches. It was a magical sight to catch before I went to take a shower.

Last night was my first New Year's party with Kai, and I have to say it was such a blast. We didn't go anywhere in particular because we had the party at his father's mansion. Officially, today, was marked as January first, and it felt amazing to start a fresh new year, especially with such a rough start this past year.

Nothing like finding out that Orlando, the man I loved, was an evil Alpha vampire who tricked me into loving him so his family could seek revenge on the Collin Coven for a tragic situation that happened long ago, which involved Kai's parents and Orlando's aunt. Plus, it doesn't help that Orlando and his Coven wanted to use Zoey and me. So they could become the most powerful Coven out there, because we are both powerful foreseen vampiric prophecies.

Who would've known from the very beginning of me traveling to Egypt for an excavation where Kai, my destined mate, was disguised as a mummified pharaoh during his detained slumber because he's a vampire? An Alpha vampire, that is. Then, there was a more recent traumatizing situation with Rex abducting me to be his pet. On a good side note, I had mostly forgotten about all the traumatizing things Rex had done to me. Aside from remembering him biting me over a dozen times, I don't remember much, which is for the best. One of the main reasons why I don't remember is because Kai told me Zoey found a blood clot in my brain that was caused by my time-gap, but I was also dying from loss of blood and other complications. Being mortal, the gift causes a lot of tension in my body because it's a strain for me to mentally travel to the past.

Thank goodness for Zoey having a healing gift because after I woke up from being in a coma for nearly five weeks, she was able to heal my weak muscles instantly, so I didn't have to relearn how to walk. Before Christmas, I was up and out of bed like nothing happened.

For Christmas, Kai lavished me with exquisite jewelry and outfits, and he even bought things for our unborn vamp triplets. Unfortunately, since I was in a coma, our gender reveal party has been delayed, yet on another good note, Dr. Riley wrote down the vamp babies' genders, so she had the answers sealed in an envelope for Kai and me. Unfortunately, Kai hasn't allowed me to cheat on my party by knowing the genders before anybody else. He claimed he doesn't know their genders, but sometimes I'm suspicious he does know. But I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and trust his word for it.

After I finished typing in my diary on my laptop, I shut it down and thought some fresh air was needed. Carrying triplets at six months pregnant has most certainly had my body overheating. After I shut the lid on my laptop, I crawled out of bed and started to make my way across the carpet.

"Meow!"

"I'll feed you in a second, Sapphire," I promised my fluffy white furball kitten. She was roughly six months old, and she was turning into this fluffy cute marshmallow. Her see-through crystal blue eyes have only gotten prettier as she's grown into a young kitty.

"No, stay inside, you silly kitty." I giggled as she purred and marked her head on my ankles whenever I was trying to open the glass door.

After I gently pushed her back with my shoe, I slipped out the door and went onto the balcony for some much-needed fresh air. The chilly breeze felt amazing when it kissed my skin, and it was just what I needed.

Still, the snow was falling, which made everything appear as if I were inside a snow globe. A wintery wonderland had been falling from the sky since I woke up. The scenery was absolutely gorgeous, I had to say.

"Caw!"

In the front of my view, a fairly large crow flew in and perched itself right onto the stone guardrail. Such a majestic bird it was to see one this remarkably close. Likely a rare sight indeed. I was merely three arm's length away from petting it if I wished to, but, of course, I wouldn't dare try touching such a captivating wild bird.

"Caw! Caw! Caw!" it continuously cawed as his neck moved in contorted motions.

To avoid startling it, rather slowly, I reached for my phone that I had placed in my back pocket. As I was snapping a picture, suddenly the crow flew at my hand.

"Aaah!"

My phone tumbled out of my hands somewhere, and I curled into a ball to stop the crow from trying to peck my eyeballs out. My screaming prolonged as it pecked my fingers, holding the back of my head. I tried crawling away on my hands and knees, but its wings kept flapping against my head, and its beak kept biting me, which hindered me from fleeing.

"HELP!" I screamed, and one of Kai's guardians flew onto the balcony.

He quickly snatched the large crow and broke its body in half with a teeth-cringing crunch. Ivan, one of Kai's advisors and best vamp friend, quickly lurked his shadow here before he took his solid form.

"Are you alright?" he asked, helping me to stand on my feet.

Then he checked my face and my arms. Bite marks were all over my face, arms, and hands from being pinched and pecked at by that bellicose crow. Most of the bleeding wounds covered my arms, but there were some cuts and scratches on my forehead. The most painful wound was above my right eyebrow.

"I'm okay," I claimed, although I was shaken up.

"Let's get you cleaned up," Ivan said before I pointed my pointer finger out at the distance because my dropped jaw wouldn't allow me to speak, so Ivan turned around and peeked into the snowy horizon.

A big black cloud made up of an entire flock of crows came flying over the top of the forest. Their squawks only got louder as the flock neared the mansion.

"Get inside!" Ivan clamored, and we hustled inside the bedroom.

Right when the guardian shut the glass doors and locked them, crows slammed their bodies into the glass. The force of their bodies slamming that hard into the glass doors was starting to crack them. Blood was smearing and rolling along the glass as the pile of dead crows started to stack onto the balcony. Upon impact, more and more crows died instantly as each one tried to break in.